Breakfree Paradise Island Resort - Surfers Paradise

... only
option we had, even after 2 large glasses of wine, was to head out of
the city to find a quiet place. We drove for over an hour into the
middle of nowhere. Every dark mountain road we turned into appeared
to be residential. Before turning into yet another mountain
residential area, Dean notices a patch of grass by the side of the
road junction and pulls onto it. This will have to do.



We spend a little time not daring to
settle ...

... stop at the Rainbow Cafe for organic smoothies and read some of the locally produced literature - very heavy on environmental ethics! All in all a nice place for a quick visit but can imagine that it might get a 'bit heavy, man' if you don't throw yourself fully in to the alternative lifestyle. From Nimbin we drive through the Mount Waring National Park with its beautiful scenery before arriving at ...

... to remember why we picked that place, no one really could say why?! Arriving at Bargara in the middle of the night, really dark place since town is really small, just a couple of roads. We started to have second thoughts about this place, but that was all forgotten when we entered our apartment. Which turned out to be brand new, everything included, we felt at home, made ourselves a couple of sandwiches and went to bed.

... ourselves, we even have leftovers for tonite. Now thats thinkn ahead!!! Derek doesn't like to cook and well niether to I, we mostly survive on ichiban noodles, hotcros buns, fruit, alfredo pasta things which u just dump in water and watch it cook itself, and microwavable stuff and yeah thats about it... I guess its been a month already since we departed from PG, and times a flyn by... dereks starting to **** me off so i ...

... of the world! With the sun setting, we headed in to the O'Reilly's Resort which was now exuding warmth and seemed very much to be a retirement village filled to the brim with tourists from all over. We sat down to warm ourselves at the libraries fireplace and heard from a nearby piano bar, the sounds of 'Star Spangle Banner' which seemed a tad out of place here in the wilderness of Australia. Our dinner at the resort was wonderfully ...

Organised a 4x4 self drive trip to Fraser Island. I backed out of driving as the insurance excess for any damage to the truck was ridiculous. Met some new friends and had a good time setting up camp each night and cooking food (well I think it was food)!! Met the infamous fraser island sand flies too....little buggers. All was going well with the driving until the last day when Chris was driving. We made it ...

... of this before he reluctantly opens his eyes, looks briefly and blearily at me, pries himself up and wordlessly rolls onto the floor, where he falls back asleep. The 'common room' is not much better, with unconscious bodies strewn all over the couches and floor. Jane and I get ourselves together and escape to the beach as quickly as we can. The one redeeming feature of the hostel is that it is fairly close to the beach, and the beach is, indeed ...

... time the sun was starting to dip behind the buildings, and the whole park got darkish. So I got up to go home (at least to catch the sunset on the other side of town, but got distracted by the Queen Street Mall. I popped in a few stores (including the bookstore...I can't resist!) before deciding to call it quits. And of course, by the time I got to a place where I could see the sunset, the sun had already set. I took a picture of the city in pinkish hues. Then it was off to pick up my ...

... Region - Mengla City
Walking the aerial skywalk, awesome!
Winter Break 2006: Xishuangbanna Region - Spring Festival in Jinghong City
Join me celebrate my 2nd Spring Festival in Jinghong ...

... I was the only foreigner and it has been my favourite placement so far.

The children were so happy even though many of them had a dirt floor in their family home and had to come to school in sandals in winter.

What I am saying is, be open to and prepared to unpack your bags anywhere in China. Buckland's work mostly in the south where it is lush and beautiful. Don't judge where you will be going by the photos of ...